Abstract

We report here the design of an optically nonactive metamaterial by assembling metallic helices with different chiralities. With linearly polarized incident light, pure electric or magnetic resonance can be selectively realized, which accordingly leads to negative permittivity or negative permeability. Further, we show that pure electric or magnetic resonance can be interchanged at the same frequency band by merely changing the polarization of incident light for 90°. This design demonstrates a unique approach in constructing metamaterials.

Received 31 October 2010Accepted 22 January 2011Published online 14 February 2011

Acknowledgments:

This work was supported by the State Key Program for Basic Research from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No. 2010CB630705), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 50972057, 10874068, 11034005, and 61077023), and partly by Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK2008012).